1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cell imaging control device, method, and non-transitory computer readable recording medium storing a program for performing autofocus control in an imaging device having an autofocus function that is an imaging device for imaging undyed cells.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a method of temporally imaging pluripotent stem cells, such as ES cells, iPS cells, and STAP cells, or differentiation-induced cells and determining the quality of the culture state of the cells by checking a temporal variation in the image has been proposed.
In addition, as a device for imaging cells as described above, a microscope is used. However, when capturing an image of cells with a microscope, so-called autofocus control is performed so that the image of cells is captured in a state of an optimal focus position.
As a general autofocus method, JP4797522B, JP2008-116526A, JP1994-138119A (JP-H06-138119A), and JP2008-5768A have proposed a method of acquiring a blur-free image by calculating an AF evaluation value from the contrast of an entire acquired image and selecting a focus position where the AF evaluation value is maximized.
JP2013-20212A has proposed a method of acquiring a blur-free cell image by dividing a cell image, which is obtained by imaging cells, into regions, calculating an AF evaluation value based on the contrast for each of the regions, selecting a focus position where the AF evaluation value is maximized, and combining images of the respective regions at the selected focus positions.
JP2010-216920A has proposed focusing for emphasizing the contour portion of cells in order to observe individual cells more clearly.